{ "meta": { "schema_version": "1.1", "endpoint": "/api/sources/rhineland-mystics/suso/vol-1-44-chapter-l.json" }, "work": { "slug": "suso", "name": "Heinrich Suso" }, "parents": [ { "slug": "rhineland-mystics", "name": "Rhineland Mystics", "url": "/sources/rhineland-mystics/" } ], "chapter": { "num": 45, "slug": "vol-1-44-chapter-l", "title": "Chapter L.", "of": 51, "words": 1209, "text": "## Chapter L.\n\nA good distinction between a true and false use of reason \nnoticeable in certain persons. \n\n\"As the eagle enticing her young to fly\" (Deut. xxxii. 11). \nWhen this holy daughter, by the good \ninstructions of her spiritual father, had been \nthoroughly fashioned after the outward man \nto every branch of holiness which can be \ntaught by examples, just as a piece of soft \nwax before the fire takes the form of the seal \nwhich is impressed upon it, and when she had \nbeen for a long time regularly trained in the \nimitation of the mirror-like life of Christ, which \nis the surest way, she received the following \nletter from her spiritual father, the Servitor : — \nDaughter, the time is now come for thee to aim \nat something higher, and to fly upwards out of \nthe nest of forms and images, and the conso- \nlations which proceed from them. Do like a \nyoung, newly-fledged eagle, and soar upwards \non thy well-grown pinions — I mean thy soul's \nhighest powers — to the heights of that noble \ncontemplation which belongs to a blissful and \nperfect life. Knowest thou not what Christ \nsaid to His disciples, who clung so closely to \n\n\nTRUE AND FALSE USE OF REASON. 253 \n\nHis sensible presence? — It is expedient for you \nthat I go away from you, if you are to receive \nthe Holy Ghost (John xvi. 7). Thy former \nexercises have been a good preparation to bring \nthee onwards through the wilderness of an ani- \nmal and unconscious life, into the promised land \nof a pure and quiet heart, where bliss begins in \nthis world, and will continue everlastingly in \nthe next. But that thou mayest better under- \nstand this high intellectual way, I will cause to \nshine before thee the light of a good distinction, \nwhich, if thou clearly comprehendest it, will save \nthee from all error, however high thou mayest \nsoar with thy mind. \n\nObserve this then. Two courses are to \nbe met with among apparently good persons. \nSome pursue a course in harmony with reason, \nand others a course at variance with it. The \nfirst are those who make it their aim to shape \nall their thoughts, actions, and omissions accord- \ning to the rule of sound discretion, in harmony \nwith the sentiments of holy Christendom, to \nGod's glory, and the peace and quiet of all \nother men ; while at the same time they keep \ndiligent watch over their words and ways, so \nas to give scandal to no one, unless indeed a \nperson takes scandal at them through his own \n\n\n254 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nfault, as often happens. Now the very name \nand nature of reason admonish us to pursue a \nguarded walk and manner of life like this. And \nthe reason of these persons is after the fashion \nof the Divine reason, and worthy of praise, for \nits light shines inwards in itself in a true though \nhidden way, just as the heavens shine in the \nbright stars. On the contrary, in those appa- \nrently good persons who follow a course at \nvariance with reason, and with an unmortified \nnature make self their aim, and only gaze in- \ntently upon objects with their reason after the \nmanner of contemplation, and are able to dis- \ncourse about them overbearingly before the un- \nlearned, while by word and deed they testify \ncontempt for every unfavourable judgment passed \nupon them; — in such persons the intellectual \nlight streams outwards, and not inwards; and \njust as decayed wood, from the glimmer it sends \nforth at night, seems to be something, and yet \nis nothing, even so the inward light and outward \nwalk of these persons show themselves to be in \nall respects unlike that which they ought to \nresemble. \n\nWhat these persons are may be easily ga- \nthered from the free and un weighed maxims \nwhich they put forth. We will only take one \n\n\nTRUE AND FAUSE USE OF REASON. 255 \n\nof these maxims, and by it we can estimate all \nthe rest. The following words occur in a poem \nby one of them, \" The just needs shun no ob- \nstacle.\" This saying, and others like it, have \nan air of importance in the eyes of certain dim- \nsighted persons, but will meet with no praise \nfrom those who see well and understand what \nthey really mean. This is evident in the case \nof the saying just quoted, \"The just needs shun \nno obstacle.\" For what is \" the just,\" and what \nis an \"obstacle\"? \"The just,\" according to the \nusual meaning of the term, is a just man re- \ngarded as actually existing in creation. For \nthe quality \"just\" has no existence by itself, \nbut needs a subject in which it can exist, and \nthis subject in the present case is the just man. \nAgain, what is an \" obstacle\" ? It is sin which \nseparates a man from God. Is a just man, then, \nto shun no obstacle — that is to say, is he to \navoid or shun no sin 1 Such an assertion would \nbe simply false, and at variance with all rea- \nson. It is true, indeed, that the just man, and \nall other things, when viewed, antecedently to \ntheir coming into being and their creation, as \nexisting ideally from everlasting in God's essen- \ntial reason, are all one and the same, without \nany formal difference, and therefore the saying, \n\n\n2oQ life of blessed henry suso. \n\nif understood in this sense, may be allowed to \npass. But then it must be remembered that \nthe just man, regarded as existing only in this \nsimple super-essential basis, is not the corporeal \nman ; for there is nothing corporeal in the God- \nhead, neither is there any obstacle there. But \nit is outside this basis that each man finds him- \nself to be this or that individual man; for outside \nof it he is mortal, and within it he is immortal : \nand it is outside of it that he now exists in his \nfrail created nature, in which he has great need \nto shun every hurtful obstacle. If, then, I were \nto try to regard myself in my own mind as \nnon-existent, and in this way to know nothing of \nmyself; and if, without distinguishing between \nmyself and God, I were to do all corporeal ac- \ntions as though the uncreated Being did them \n— this would be a crime above all crimes. \n\nFrom this we see, that such maxims as these \nhave really nothing rational in them. In saying \nthis, however, it is not meant to condemn ra- \ntional doctrine or rational well-weighed maxims \nand poems, by which men are refined, and \nguided towards intellectual truth, even though \nthey are not understood by every body. For it \nis manifestly true, that no one can speak with \nsufficient clearness to be understood bv those \n\n\nMISUSE OF REASON. 257 \n\nwho are grossly blind, and as ignorant as brute \nbeasts. \n\nThe daughter answered: — Praised be God \nfor this good distinction ! But I should also be \nvery glad to hear the distinction between a well- \nordered reason and one which is all flowers and \noutward show, as well as between true and false \ndetachment.", "project_translation": false, "text_trust": "verbatim", "quote_safe": true, "license": null, "methodology_url": null } }